Wire frame for hat-brims



(No Model.) w B. GURTISS.

v WIRE FRAME FOR EAT BRIMS.

No. 288,313. Patented Nov. 13, 1883.

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UNITED STATES PATENT Grinch,

WILLIAM B. ounriss, on

DAN BURY, CONNECTICUT.

WIRE FRAME FOR HAT-BRIMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,313, dated November 13, 1888.

Application filed April 27, 1883. No model) To [0513 1072,0122 it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM B. Ounrrss, of Danbury, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire Frames for Hat-Brims; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, whereby a person skilled in the art can make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Like letters in the figures indicate the same parts.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved frame. Fig. 2- is a 'plan View of the same. Fig. 3 is aside view of the same.

My improvement consists of aframe formed of round wire, of spring temper, and of the ordinary sizes of merchant-able wire, which is bent to the desired shape, which may be called afcompound curve, without any torsion of the wire. The processes by which this special product may be made are several in number; but one of them consists in feeding the wire longitudinally through a fixed hollow stem between the feed and guide rolls, which determine its direction and rate of progress, and subjecting the wire as it passes the last rolls to the pressure of a roll adjust-ably attached to a sleeve rotarily secured to the stem. The degree and times of exerting the pressure by this bending-roll are determined by the connected mechanism; but it is sufficient to state that by the means described the wire is bent as it feeds along, first from above, then from one side, then from above, again from the reverse side, and again from above, causing the wire to take the shape of the compound curve shown in Fig. l of the drawings. It is to be understhod that the pressure of the bendingroll and its oscillating movement about the longitudinally-moving wire are continuous, although varying in degree, and these elements-the moving wire and the bending pressure and continuous movements of the bending-roll in a plane at right angles to the axis of the wire-bend it to any required degree of radius for the curves, making up the whole structure in its completed shape. shears operated automatically cuts the frame as the front end bends up to meet the main wire at the mduth of the stem, and the ends are clasped together by a small tube of metal by a separate machine.

The special merits of my improved frame are, the desired form may be made with opposite parts exactly symmetrical, and from the ordinary merchantable wire. This frame is especially adapted'for use in hat-brims and the like, to preserve the shape to which the hats have been blocked. V

The wire for the brims of hats has heretofore beenrshaped by rolling, but not without torsion or some peculiarity of shape of the wire itself. Such wires have been permanently shaped as concavo-convex (steel spring) hoops, and have been made with a compound curve, rising at the sides of the hat and drooping in front and at the rear. I do not broadly claim a frame for hat-brims made as a compound curve.

I claim as my invention 1. The improvement in the art of making frames for hat-brims and the like, lhe same consisting in subjecting ordinary tempered merchantable round wire to the action of rolls without twisting the same, substantially as described, whereby'a fixed compound curve is given to the wire, as set forth.

2. The improved frame or hoop for hatbrims and the like, the same consisting of a round wire shaped substantially as shown, without torsion or twist, as set forth.

. WILLIAM B. GURTISSI.

Witnesses:

Gnonen A. Krmvnn, NORMAN Hones.

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